The Ruttigers Cosmology is something we brainstormed for one night.

Now, you must take into account that me, and my friends Matt & Clark, had discussed various ideas for this over perhaps 35 years previous to that, so yeah.

Anyway, I was fascinated with the idea of a huge crumbling tower, floating in some nether space, that was slowly being chewed away at by an Eldritch Beast (entropy).

This idea lined up well with a lot of existing cosmologies. Norse Myth has the Ragnarok, Greek Myth has chained Titans that would destroy the work if released, and Cthulhu Mythos fit here as well, of course.

So, I put down this rough very quickly, and we jammed on a few ideas:

Here's s super brief breakdown:

The various realms (floating chunks of reality) are connected by Gates, which were once physical gateways, but since the tower began to crumble, they are now more, ultra-dimensional. 

The Eldritch Beast, as mentioned up top, is Entropy. It wants to consume and destroy all, so that it can return to its slumbering eternity in peace. Damn those pesky "living" things and their rock and roll music!

The Celestial Realms are where the classic divine, angelic beings come from. We can mix just about any "goodness and light" type of pantheon in here. Our Cleric Calling (Class) is designed to be flexible, so players can choose any mythological pantheon, or create their won if they like.

The Ambrosian Fountainhead is where characters go to try and gain immortality. It might not be real, the Eldritch Beast may have eaten that first, who knows. You'll have to try to get there to find out.

 Fallen Ysgarde is, essentially, home of the Norse Pantheon in it death throes. The Eldritch Beast is consuming it, and Ragnarok is in full swing. Ummmm, I'm not sure if you want to visit there, (ok, now you really want to visit there huh?)

The Libram Arcanum is a living library, curated my a large looming ancient librarian, who watches as books and scrolls come into existence, as history happens. Sages say that All Knowledge is stored here. It's a great place to do some research, especially on the ancient lore, but the librarian dislikes interlopers.

The Mortal Realms are just that. They are the realms of human kind, and other mortal folk. It is actually the heart of reality, the most real, and it is sheltered from the Eldritch Beast by the other realms outside. The beast will eat those outer realms first!

The Seelie and Unseelie Courts are the Fey Realms.

The Seelie Court is ruled by Ulfgrym, the immortal King of the High Elves (Sidhe). It's lands look almost like tended gardens, with hedge-ways, white stone cobbles, ivory pillars, etc. It is beautiful, but the Sidhe are very wary of visitors.

The Unseelie Court is a wild overgrown dark forest. Its ruler is The Horned God, Gwyn ap Nudd, the Master of the Wild Hunt. The Unseelie Court fey and downright cunning and hostile. They despise all mortal kin, and will misguide, dupe, and murder them, if their master allows.

The Citadel of Death is a grey featureless tower, filled with moaning spirits that wander aimlessly, too stripped of their life spark to try to escape. It is ruled by Skekhag, the Goddess of Death, whose ever present flute playing minions always trails behind her. You probably shouldn't go here, unless you need to try and retrieve someone from here, which is not advised.

(They say Sliv Salun, the patron god of thieves and grifters, stole one of the keys to the Gates of Death, but that's probably just a myth, I'm probably not Sliv Salum in disguise, nor is that fellow over there, and if one of us was, how would you know?)

The Dihmholme (nod to John Eric Holmes), is the mythic underworld, filled with winding tunnels, dilapidated ancient structures, and many nasty denizens. The Wytchlin are pallid stringy haired deep elves, exiled here by the Sidhe High Elves untold centuries ago. There are treasures to be had had, but most who visit this realm never return.

The Labrynthian Depths is a confusing, ever twisting and contorting maze. This is where creatures of Nightmare, and insidious Shades, reside. If your character dreams of a terrible creature, it actually exists, and this is where it resides with the other nightmares. Periodically, a few are bound to escape, just FYI.

The Abyssal Wastes, is Hell. Some areas are frigid cold, others are blistering hot, and tormented souls can be found in abundance. Dis, his High Corpulence, (i.e. The Devil), ruled on high from his throne of iron. He is chained here, but he does send Demons to various realms, when he has schemes for them to fulfill.

And that, is a rough overview.

We are going to add more floating "islands," so you would be world builders can design your own realms and such, but we wanted to provide a framework to kick off your imaginations.

We'd love for players to explore it, and add to it!

We hope you enjoy it!

Richard, Matt, & Clark